Use Machine Blueprints to Create and Add Desktops to Pools

Administrators can run the Configure vCAC Blueprint to Provision Machine to Pool workflow to create managed or unmanaged machines in vRealize Automation and add them to a specific manual desktop pool.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have administrator credentials for the vRealize Orchestrator server. The account must be a member of the vRealize Orchestrator Admin group configured to authenticate through vCenter Single Sign-On.
• Perform the appropriate tasks from the topic Exposing vRealize Orchestrator Plug-in for Horizon Workflows in vRealize Automation. These tasks include creating business groups and services for delegated administrators and end users, creating entitlements for the services, configuring catalog items, and binding certain text boxes to specific values.
• Run the Orchestrator workflows described in Prerequisites for Creating Machines in vRealize Automation.
• Create one or more machine blueprints, as described in Create Templates and Blueprints for Adding Machines to Desktop Pools.
• If you plan to make action buttons available on the Items tab so that delegated administrators can use action buttons to perform pool management tasks, perform the tasks described in Making Desktop and Pool Actions Available in vRealize Automation.

Procedure

1. Log in to vRealize Automation as a tenant administrator.
2. Add an entitlement for the delegated administrator.
   1. On the Administration tab, go to Catalog Management > Entitlements and click the item in the list for delegated administrators.
   2. Add the machine blueprint service to the Entitled Services list.
   3. If the delegated administrator is allowed to delete machines from specific pools, add a Destroy action to the Entitled Actions list. For Type, select Virtual Machine.
   4. When you are finished adding these entitlements, click Update.
3. Log in to vRealize Orchestrator as an administrator and run the Configure vCAC Blueprint to Provision Machine to Pool workflow, located in the Horizon/Configuration folder.
   You can select the blueprint from the Blueprints folder of the IaaS host of the vCAC host.
   Some custom properties are added to the blueprint. Navigate to one of the following menu items:

   vRealize Automation Version	Menu Item
   6.2.4	Infrastructure > Blueprints > Blueprints
   7.2 and later	Design > Blueprints > Blueprints

   Edit the blueprint and see the custom properties on the Properties tab. If the blueprint is for a pool of unmanaged machines, you see a Credential Name property. Do not edit the ExternalWFStubs.MachineProvisioned and ExternalWFStubs.UnprovisionMachine properties. These properties indicate the IDs of the workflows.
4. To troubleshoot an unsuccessful workflow run, in Orchestrator, you can navigate to Horizon > CoreModules > Business Logic and select the appropriate workflow to view its logs.

   Action	Workflow Name
   Add managed machines.	add-vcac-machine-to-managed-pool
   Add unmanaged machines.	add-vcac-machine-to-unmanaged-pool
   Delete a managed machine.	remove--vcac-machine-to-managed-pool
   Delete an unmanaged machine.	remove-vcac-machine-to-unmanaged-pool

Results

The blueprint now appears on the Catalog tab for the delegated administrator. If the IaaS administrator has configured the blueprint so that delegated administrators can change the number of CPUs, amount of memory, and gigabytes of hard disk space for the machine, the delegated administrator can make these changes on the Request Information tab when submitting the request. The delegated administrator can also change the number of machines to provision. The delegated administrator can monitor the progress of machine creation by clicking the Requests tab.

After the request succeeds, the delegated administrator can go to the Items tab, click Machines in the left panel, and see the machine or machines listed on the right panel. The delegated administrator can click a machine name to access the actions that are available, such as Destroy. The pod and pool name are available on the Properties tab.